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Undated headshot of Joshua Peck, sent by Erie police on Aug. 2. Peck is charged with raping a woman at knife point on July 31. CONTRIBUTED/ERIE TIMES-NEWS

Erie police said a city woman saw a man hanging around the lower west side a few times before he led her to an area near railroad tracks and raped her at knife point on Wednesday night.

The woman saw the man again on Thursday afternoon, when he knocked on the door of her residence.

Officers who responded to the woman's 911 call found Joshua S. Peck, 19, of Millcreek Township, on West Fifth Street. He was taken into custody at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

Peck, of the 2500 block of Colonial Avenue, remained in the Erie County Prison on $100,000 bond Friday on charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, rape, sexual assault, indecent assault, aggravated assault, simple assault, terroristic threats and possessing an instrument of crime.

He is accused of using a pocket knife with a green handle to force the 22-year-old woman to have sex with him, cutting the woman's hands and biting her upper back in the assault, according to the criminal complaint filed by Erie police Detective Jason Triana and Detective Sgt. Julie Kemling.

Police also charge that Peck put the knife to the woman's throat and threatened to kill the woman after the she tried to call the police.

The attack happened south of West 12th and Myrtle streets, near the railroad tracks, at about 9:15 p.m. on Wednesday, according to the complaint. Investigators said the woman ran to the McDonald's at West 12th and Sassafras streets and called police after she managed to escape from Peck.

Peck had been hanging around a corner on Erie's lower west side, and the woman had walked by him a few times before the attack, police said Friday.

On Wednesday night, the woman told police she spoke to a man who said he knew who had some keys that she lost, and he offered to take her to the person who had them. The woman at first became suspicious because the man was holding a knife, but the man told her not to be afraid because he only had the knife to defend himself, police said Thursday.

The woman eventually went with the man as they headed south on Chestnut Street from West 12th Street to the railroad tracks. It was in that area, police charge, that Peck threatened the woman with the knife and forced her to remove her clothing before raping her.

Erie police were searching for the suspect in the attack on Thursday when the victim called to report that she had seen her attacker. She said he had come to her residence and was knocking on the door, according to investigators. Police scoured the area before eventually apprehending Peck, who matched the description of the attacker. The woman later identified Peck as the person who raped her, police said.

TIM HAHN can be reached at 870-1731 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNhahn.